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Photosynthesis and Respiration in Cyanobacteria: Wim FJ Vermaas
Photosynthesis and Respiration in Cyanobacteria: Wim FJ Vermaas
Respiration in
Cyanobacteria
Secondary article
Article Contents
. Introduction
. Photosynthetic Electron Flow
. Respiratory Electron Flow
Cyanobacteria are among the very few groups that can perform oxygenic photosynthesis
and respiration simultaneously in the same compartment, and some cyanobacterial
species are able to fix nitrogen. This combination of metabolic pathways is unusual and this
metabolic flexibility may be responsible for the evolutionary hardiness of the cyanobacteria
and their ability to thrive under a wide range of conditions.
Introduction
Cyanobacteria (formerly known as blue-green algae) are
thought to be among the evolutionarily oldest organisms:
putative microfossils have been found that are 3.5 billion
years old and that are attributed to cyanobacteria (Schopf,
1993). A main reason for the evolutionary hardiness of
cyanobacteria is their successful combination of eective
metabolic pathways. They are among the very few groups
that can perform oxygenic photosynthesis and respiration
simultaneously in the same compartment, and many
cyanobacterial species are able to x nitrogen. Therefore,
they can survive and prosper under a wide range of
environmental conditions.
The combination of photosynthesis and respiration in a
single compartment is thought to be quite unique, and the
ramications of this combination are reviewed. Photosynthesis and respiration require electron transport pathways that to a large extent are catalysed by protein
complexes in membranes. Figure 1 illustrates the compartmentalization of the cyanobacterial cell. The thylakoid
membrane, the internal membrane system that separates
the cytoplasm from the lumen and that is present in
virtually all cyanobacteria, contains both photosynthetic
and respiratory electron transport chains. These electron
transport chains intersect, and in part utilize the same
components in the membrane. Note that oxygenic photosynthesis (conversion of CO2 and water to sugars using the
energy from light) essentially is the reverse of respiration
(conversion of sugars to CO2 and water releasing energy).
The cytoplasmic membrane, separating the cytoplasm
from the periplasm, contains a respiratory electron
transport chain but not photosynthetic complexes in most
cyanobacteria. Therefore, in most cyanobacteria, photosynthetic electron transport occurs solely in thylakoids,
whereas respiratory electron ow takes place in both the
thylakoid and cytoplasmic membrane systems. Overviews
regarding aspects of cyanobacterial biochemistry and
molecular biology related to photosynthesis and respiration are provided in Gantt (1994) and Schmetterer (1994).
The presence and simultaneous activity of photosynthetic and respiratory electron transport chains in the same
membrane system is unusual. A schematic representation
of the respiratory and photosynthetic electron transport
chains in cyanobacterial thylakoid membranes is shown in
Figure 2. As indicated, cyanobacteria utilize several redoxactive components in thylakoids for both photosynthesis
and respiration, including the plastoquinone (PQ) pool,
the cytochrome b6f complex, and the soluble electron
carriers in the lumen (in most species primarily plastocyanin, but cytochrome c553 (also known as cytochrome c6)
also occurs). In any case, the common use of components
Thylakoid
membrane
Thylakoid
lumen
Periplasm
Cytoplasm
Cell wall
Cytoplasmic
membrane
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2001 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net
NADPH NADP
Succinate Fumarate
NADPH NADP
Cytoplasm
Fdox
H2O
SDH
NDH-1
PS II
PQ
Fdred
cyt
b6f
PS I
O2 + H+
Ox
Thylakoid
membrane
O2 + H+
PC
Lumen
The photosynthetic electron transport chain in cyanobacteria is essentially identical to that in plants, even though
some of the polypeptides that are part of electrontransporting enzymes appear to be of dierent evolutionary origin in the two systems. Indeed, chloroplasts in plants
are thought to have originated from cyanobacterial
ancestors. The photosynthetic electron transport chain of
oxygenic organisms has been reviewed extensively (for
example, Ort and Yocum, 1996; Hippler et al., 1998;
Whitmarsh, 1998), so only a brief summary will be
provided here. As indicated in Figure 2, photosystem II
(PS II) uses light energy to split water and to reduce the PQ
pool. Table 1 summarizes the protein components involved
with PS II and with other complexes mentioned in Figure 2.
Electrons are transported from the PQ pool to the
cytochrome b6f complex and from there to a soluble
electron carrier on the luminal side of the thylakoid
membrane. In cyanobacteria this soluble carrier may be
plastocyanin or cytochrome c553, depending on the species
and on the availability of copper (plastocyanin is a coppercontaining enzyme). Either of these soluble one-electron
carriers can reduce the oxidized PS I reaction centre
chlorophyll, P700 1 . This oxidized form of the reaction
Table 1 Major complexes involved with photosynthetic and respiratory electron flow in thylakoid membranes in cyanobacteria
Complex
Gene
designation
Photosystem II
Major proteins
Cofactors
Function
psb
Succinate dehydrogenase
sdh
Type-1 NADPH
dehydrogenase
Cytochrome b6 f
ndh
NdhA-L
FeS centres
pet
Photosystem I
psa
Cytochrome oxidase
cta
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2001 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net
cyanobacterial thylakoids involves succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity rather than electron ow from
NAD(P)H (Cooley et al., 2000); NADPH appears to be
used preferentially for carbon xation processes. The
corollary of this new concept is that cyanobacteria are able
to generate succinate as a respiratory intermediate, and
therefore should have a (modied) citric acid cycle.
According to the older literature, a citric acid cycle was
presumed to be nonfunctional in cyanobacteria as a key
enzyme, 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase, was absent (reviewed in Stanier and Cohen-Bazire, 1977). Indeed, this is
true according to the genomic sequence of Synechocystis
sp. PCC 6803, but this organism is able to convert 2oxoglutarate to succinate in the absence of a traditional 2oxoglutarate dehydrogenase complex (Cooley et al., 2000),
making use of an alternate pathway.
NAD(P)H oxidation
The cyanobacterial equivalent of the mitochondrial and
bacterial type-1 NADPH dehydrogenase (NDH-1) is an
enzyme complex similar to the 14-subunit NDH-1 complex
from Escherichia coli, except that three subunits involved
with substrate binding are not apparent from the
cyanobacterial genome. Probably related to this observation, the preferred substrate of cyanobacterial NDH-1 is
NADPH rather than NADH. Upon inactivation of ndhB,
the gene for one of the essential NDH-1 subunits, mutants
required high CO2 for growth (Ogawa, 1991) and showed a
decreased respiration rate. The latter was taken to support
the tacit assumption that NDH-1 was the major respiratory electron transport route into the PQ pool in
cyanobacteria as it is in many other bacteria and in
mitochondria from most eukaryotes. However, this view
was challenged when mutants lacking succinate dehydrogenase activity showed a very slow rate of respiratory
electron ow into the PQ pool (Cooley et al., 2000). As will
be argued in a subsequent section, this suggests that NDH1 activity in cyanobacteria in vivo is only very modest, and
that most respiratory electrons enter the PQ pool via SDH.
In cyanobacteria, NADPH is not used as a preferential
respiratory substrate but rather is applied for the CO2
xation process. However, a large number (46) of
isogenes for two of the NDH-1 subunits are present in
the Synechocystis genome; these isogenes may have
dierent functions (Ohkawa et al., 2000). This suggests
that NDH-1 may function in dierent capacities depending
on the physiological state of the cell.
According to the genomic sequence of Synechocystis sp.
PCC 6803, this cyanobacterium is capable of producing
type-2 NDH (NDH-2), which is a single-subunit protein
and that may not contribute to a proton gradient over the
thylakoid membrane. Three genes for NDH-2s are present
in the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 genome, but so far no
evidence has been found that would suggest a large activity
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2001 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net
Succinate dehydrogenase
Genes for soluble SDH subunits are easily identied in the
Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 genome, and upon deletion of
such genes a phenotype consistent with a lack of SDH
activity is found. Whereas fumarate (the SDH product) is
depleted in mutants lacking SDH, succinate accumulates
(Cooley et al., 2000). Moreover, in such mutants succinate
accumulates to a higher degree when 2-oxoglutarate (an
intermediate in the citric acid cycle before succinate) is
added, signifying the capability of cyanobacteria to
convert 2-oxoglutarate to succinate (Cooley et al., 2000)
even though a traditional 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase is
absent according to the genome sequence. This implies that
cyanobacteria can utilize a modied citric acid cycle and
that succinate and SDH are potentially important in
cyanobacterial respiratory metabolism.
In the Synechocystis mutant lacking SDH activity, the
rate of initial respiratory electron ow into the PQ pool was
about an order of magnitude lower than in wild type,
suggesting that essentially all respiratory electrons enter
the PQ pool through SDH activity rather than through
oxidation of NAD(P)H (Cooley et al., 2000). Therefore,
the large eect of inactivation of ndhB (an NDH-1 gene; see
above) on respiration may be an indirect eect due to the
absence of succinate in this mutant: oxidized NAD(P) is
needed for running the citric acid cycle and other
respiratory processes. This highlights the complexity of
metabolism even in rather simple organisms, and cautions
against one-sided interpretations. However, the biochemical analysis of Synechocystis mutants specically lacking
particular subunits provides an opportunity to critically
test previous and current hypotheses and interpretations.
Terminal oxidases
Using molecular-genetic approaches and the analysis of
specic mutants, the nature and relative activity of
terminal oxidases in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 has been
claried. According to biochemical data preceding the
availability of the genomic sequence of this organism, a
cytochrome aa3-type cytochrome-c oxidase was found to
be present along with another terminal oxidase (see
Schmetterer (1994) for a review). According to the genome
sequence, apart from a cytochrome-c oxidase there may be
a cytochrome bd-type quinol oxidase as well as a second
quinol oxidase that most resembles a cytochrome bo-type
oxidase. The cytochrome bd-type quinol oxidase could be
demonstrated on the basis of inhibitor studies as well as by
mutant analysis, but the cytochrome bo-type oxidase does
not appear to be expressed under the conditions used thus
4
far. Interestingly, under the conditions used, the cytochrome bd-type quinol oxidase appears to be located
predominantly in the cytoplasmic membrane, whereas
signicant cytochrome oxidase activity is seen in thylakoids (Howitt and Vermaas, 1998). Indeed, in mutants
lacking PS I, rapid (40 ms) electron ow from PS II to
cytochrome oxidase can be demonstrated, indicating a
close functional relationship between PS II and thylakoidlocalized cytochrome oxidase (Vermaas et al., 1994).
The presence of cytochrome oxidase in the cyanobacterial thylakoid membrane raises the question of what the
electron donor may be. If cytochrome c553, the luminal
electron carrier that can replace plastocyanin, is present,
then this is the likely electron donor. However, electron
transfer to the oxidase can also occur in the absence of this
cytochrome. This electron transfer appears to involve
plastocyanin, but also seems to require another cytochrome, cytochrome cM. This cytochrome c may serve as
an electron transport intermediate and might be associated
with the cytochrome oxidase complex (Manna and
Vermaas, 1997). Limited sequence similarity exists between cytochrome cM and the cytochrome c-binding part
of the cytochrome caa3-containing cytochrome-c oxidase
from bacteria with such a complex, and cytochrome cM
appears to be required for electron ow out of the PQ pool
under conditions that PS I and cytochrome c553 are absent
(Manna and Vermaas, 1997).
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2001 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2001 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net
Table 2 Approximate capacity and probable source of rate limitation of photosynthetic and
respiratory electron transfer in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. (For simplicity, these values have been
expressed on a per-chlorophyll basis)
Complex
Photosystem II
1000
Succinate dehydrogenase
200
NADPH dehydrogenase
20
Cytochrome b6 f complex
Photosystem I
Cytochrome-c oxidase
1000
3000
200
Acknowledgements
The work from my group referred to here has been funded
mostly by grants from the US Department of Agriculture
Competitive Research Grants Program (9701526) and the
Human Frontiers Science Program Organization (RG
0051/97). A research fellowship from the Alexander-vonHumboldtstiftung is gratefully acknowledged.
References
Andersson B and Barber J (1996) Mechanisms of photodamage and
protein degradation during photoinhibition of photosystem II. In:
Baker NR (ed.) Photosynthesis and the Environment, pp. 101121.
Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Bendall DS and Manasse RS (1995) Cyclic photophosphorylation and
electron transport. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1229: 2338.
Burrows PA, Sazanov LA, Svab Z, Maliga P and Nixon PJ (1998)
Identication of a functional respiratory complex in chloroplasts
through analysis of tobacco mutants containing disrupted plastid ndh
genes. EMBO Journal 17: 868876.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2001 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net
Further Reading
Bryant DA (1994) The Molecular Biology of Cyanobacteria. Dordrecht:
Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Madigan MT, Martinko JM and Parker J (1997) Brock Biology of
Microorganisms, 8th edn. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
Ort DR and Yocum CF (1996) Oxygenic Photosynthesis: The Light
Reactions. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
White D (2000) The Physiology and Biochemistry of Prokaryotes, 2nd
edn. New York: Oxford University Press.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SCIENCES / & 2001 Macmillan Publishers Ltd, Nature Publishing Group / www.els.net